[Peace-discuss] Statement about ongoing War in Libya from Solidarity with Democratic Movements

[Karen Medina]

[Here is a statement about the ongoing war in Libya from the local
group, Solidarity with Democratic Movements. -karen medina]

Solidarity with Democratic Movements: Statement on Libya
SDM Statement on Intervention in Libya
As a group (as our name would imply) in solidarity with democratic
movements, we were heartened by the initial uprising against the
regime of Muammar Ghaddafi in cities around Libya, beginning on
February 27. These protests were directly inspired by the struggles
for liberation in Tunisia and Egypt that successfully overthrew hated
long-ruling autocrats in those countries.
One important feature of those rebellions is that they overthrew
client regimes of the United States and other Western powers, which
sponsored the repression and immiseration of millions of people in
those countries. Until just days before the fall of the Ben Ali and
Mubarak regimes, these powers continued to support the status quo. But
now, those same Western powers, selectively invoking their
“Responsibility to Protect”, have decided to intervene militarily
against the Ghaddafi regime, under the guise of saving the lives of
civilians in Benghazi. Instead, what we have seen is a civil war with
no end in sight, in which hundreds of civilians have been killed both
by Ghaddafi’s forces and NATO bombs.
By definition, in a popular democratic revolution, the millions who
are struggling for change are the ones to determine the strategy for
their own liberation. This feature of the Egyptian and Tunisian
revolutions has been all but eliminated in Libya. Increasingly,
military and political decisions are being made in Pentagon and NATO
boardrooms, as well as European capitals. For example, even prior to
passage of UN Resolution 1973, the United States received guarantees
from the Transitional National Council (TNC), the official leadership
of the Libyan rebels, that all existing energy contracts made under
Ghaddafi’s government would be honored. Meanwhile, former members of
the Ghaddafi regime as well as U.S. and European clients have gained a
more prominent role in the rebel leadership. For example, Khalifa
Heftir, a CIA asset who had been living in Virginia since 1990, has
now become one of the most important rebel military commanders.
Anyone in favor of real democracy in the Arab world, however, cannot
see Libya in isolation from the revolutionary uprisings elsewhere in
the region. At the very moment that the United States and NATO were
invoking their “responsibility to protect” the people of Libya, the
U.S. gave the green light to Saudi Arabia to crush the democratic
uprising in Bahrain, which houses the U.S.’s fifth naval fleet. In
exchange, Saudi Arabia guaranteed that the Arab League would support
the Libyan invasion.
Having lost two key allies (Mubarak and Ben Ali) in the Arab world,
the United States and its friends in the west are not willing to see
lofty ideals such as democracy stand in the way of their strategic
interests. The invasion of Libya, regardless of any humanitarian
facade, is a way of maintaining a foothold in a region that has seen
two popular revolutions. The question for the coming years is who will
shape the destiny of the Arab world. Will it be with the United States
and its client states, or will it be the vast majority of the people?
Solidarity with Democratic Movements stands with the latter.